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Your Mind is A Death Trap


Ever had pimples?


Yes, that teenie tiny little, red, tender bumps that would occasionally make an appearance on your face and whenever they do, they would totally ruin your day - often your mood too -. Yes, that pimple.


Typically, if you’re like me, pimples magically appear overnight, usually around that time where my monthly visitor is about to knock on my uterus’ door. And immediately, this little tiny little thing will take control of my day. I will try anything I can to get rid of it. I would pop them, which usually makes it even worse. Every time I look in the mirror, my attention immediately goes to that pimple. And while this hormonal bump sits happily on its throne, I would sit on my bed in despair, thinking of more ways to get rid of it. Oh, the drama!


So what does this annoying presence of a tiny pimple have anything to do with your mind being a deathtrap? Bear with me, I’m about to lay it out for you.


I was researching how the brain works the other day. In case you're wondering, yes, I research random stuff in my spare time and yes, I’m basically a huge ball of nerd rolling around all day long.


Anyway, I stumbled upon this information that made my jaw drop.


Get ready for some truth, people!


An average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day.


Of those, 80% are negative.


If right now your reaction is “Well, fuck!"... Well, same.


The disturbing thing about this fact is that as human beings, it's easier for us to focus on the negative. The things that didn't work out and the things that affected us badly.


Think about it, when was the last time you obsessed about that one person who didn't like you, even though you probably have a gazillion people in your life who actually enjoy your existence.


Or stress about that one failure at your job, even though you have gained multiple successes before.


Or that time you look in the mirror and instead of seeing all the beautiful unique features you have, you focus on how many wrinkles you have.


If this is you, well congrats, you're a normal functioning human being. You're not alone.


Here’s a fact, your thoughts can make you or break you. If you’re the type that is capable of focusing on the 20% of your thoughts despite the rest 80% that are swimming around in your head, well, good for you. I salute you! No, really, I do. It’s not easy to do.


The sad fact is that the majority of you (myself included) have a huge tendency of focusing more on the 80%. Forget the fact that everything else in your life is going well, we seem to always find it easier to obsess on the bad. Well, let me be the bitch here and tell you that once you do this, it’s the beginning of doom. Trust me, I’ve been there. And whether you want to admit it or not, you’ve been there too.


I see these negative thoughts as mind pimples. They seem to have similar traits. They specifically appear with determination to ruin our day/mood/existence. You will do whatever you can to get rid of them, but the more you try to get rid of them, the worse the outcome.


In the case of the actual pimple, the more you try to pop them, the more it’s going to cause your skin to become red and, well basically, fucked. Same thing with your negative thoughts. The more you try to get rid of them, the more they are going to consume you and the more frustrated you become. Hence, the day is ruined.


Another sad truth is that we worship our mind pimples way too much. We take what it says way too seriously. We believe that whatever goes on in our minds is important, therefore we have to always focus on it, no matter how mean it is.


When the truth is, your mind is actually your biggest torturer. A deathtrap. In other aspects of your life, I doubt that you would tolerate any form of torture or willingly walk into a death trap causing inevitable death. Except if you’re into it, then you do you, honey!


With that said, it doesn’t mean that your mind is a bad place. Your mind is not bad. It does what it does to warn you about stuff because it thinks it is keeping you safe by doing this. But, just because it is doing its job, doesn’t mean the thoughts that your mind produces actually mean anything.


Here’s some good news. While you can’t control your mind and/or thoughts, you can control how much significance you want to put on your thoughts, and sometimes you can even not put any significance at all. You get to decide if you want to take your thoughts seriously or not. You can choose to move on with your day or do whatever you need to do at the very moment despite the many negative thoughts that are being noisy, craving for your attention, at the back of your head.


The first step you can do is to become more aware and catch yourself as you start spiraling down in these thoughts, acknowledge they exist, decide they are not going to affect you, and move on with your day. Not easy, for sure, but it works.


A kind reminder that your thoughts do not define who you are. Even though you can’t control these mind pimples from emerging in your head, it’s okay.


Thoughts are just thoughts.


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